5 Tips For Taming Information Overload Online

Information overload is a common and silent enemy for entrepreneurs working online! Information is great if we can process and use it otherwise too much of it can disrupt our productivity and even our creative intelligence! The internet environment itself is all about content therefore it's nearly impossible to avoid having your focus disrupted by it at some point and in some way!

The following discussion focuses on 5 different yet effective ways for managing information so it becomes more an asset and less of a liability for you!

Use Social Media Tools

Both Tweetdeck and Hootsuite allow for you to 'filter' the vast amounts of information you're exposed to on Twitter! Along these same lines there are apps and plug-ins available to help you and others to 'share' links and content on many social sites! This helps keep your exposure and time to a minimum while also helping to keep the vast amounts of information available to a minimum as well as saving you tons of time! These tools are terrific for managing information in a way that you can put to good use and in an efficient manner!

Stay Within Your Field

Random surfing on the internet in most cases is just a voluntary waste of time but it also invites confusion and even stress as well! When you come across any material that may cast doubts on your current direction this tends to confuse you while increasing your levels of self doubt and stress! If you must 'wade into the surf' of the internet environment know what you're looking for beforehand and maintain your focus!

Filter and Automate Searches

Prudent use of RSS feeds and even Google Alerts is great for managing information since you can pinpoint particular fields and topics! Once again these free and readily available tools help keep your focus on ONLY topics of interest and/or relevance to your needs! The vast amount of time you save is another benefit because the information you seek is sent directly to you!

Develop Content Offline

The internet environment can be extremely distracting with new content being pumped into it regularly from around the globe! People by their very nature want to be informed and having access to all this information can often times lead us 'astray' from our originally intended course just to view it! Since developing content is something anybody working online must do, and often, it's suggested to take your ideas and develop away from your computer! You do NOT need to be sitting in front of your monitor all the time to successfully complete the development of any new ideas you're wanting to share with others! This strategy allows for you to narrow your focus and complete your task in a much more timely fashion as well!

60 Second Rule

When you come across anything that sparks an interest or curiosity decide within one minute if it's something you can put to use immediately! If not bookmark the location and move on or even a better way to do this is by using Evernote! This free software allows you to take notes, save entire web pages or simply the URL so you can come back and review it later! This is one of the best tools I've seen or used for managing information online!

Information overload is all around us with radio, TV and even newspapers but no where is it more prevalent than online! Now this isn't very surprising when you consider the internet environment was created around the use and distribution of content! For people working online therefore this 'issue' becomes more significant in terms of productivity and even time management! The different ways for more effectively managing information as reviewed above serve to help you make better use of your time! This of course is intended to help you maintain your focus and the level of productivity you need to succeed with any business located within the internet environment itself!